The Solidarity Festival for Cinema and Human Rights returns to the Tel Aviv Cinematheque in December for its 13th edition, once again bringing together cinema, society and politics. From December 4 to 13, 2025, audiences can see a wide selection of feature films and documentaries from Israel and around the world, many of them award winners and screening in Israel for the first time. All address human rights, struggles for freedom, questions of democracy and social justice, and the right of independent cinema to continue existing, particularly during war and regional tension.
The festival is led by founder Dani Wilensky and artistic director Gidi Avivi, who view cinema as an essential cultural tool for reflection, criticism and social change.
What is on the festival program?
The program expands not only in the number of films, but also through special events designed to engage directly with Israeli public debate and examine it from different perspectives. Watch the festival trailer:
Premieres, award winners and a one-time opening film
The program includes around 25 new and award-winning international features and documentaries, presented in two main competitions and in the Panorama competition for films from Israel and around the world.
The opening film, “Kontinental ’25” by Romanian director Radu Jude, winner of the screenplay award at the 2025 Berlin Film Festival, confronts the audience with questions of human and moral responsibility in contemporary Europe.
Other notable films include:
“When the Dawn Comes” – a moving drama about returning to life after psychiatric hospitalization
“The Fourth Wall” – on the tension between politics and art in Beirut in 1982
“The Message” – the story of a girl who understands animals and reexamines truth and innocence
“Shameless” – an unexpected relationship between a woman on the run and a teenage girl in a shelter in southern India
“Vena” – a sharp drama about addiction, parenthood and the search for control
International Documentary Competition
Six films offering emotional and complex perspectives on personal, political and social struggles:
“Almost Normal Life” – girls in a home for at-risk youth search for stability and normality
“Nobody’s Child” – a five-decade search for an American father lost in Vietnam
“Fusion Course” – students in South Africa confront the legacy of apartheid
“The Day Will Come” – a tender love story between a refugee from Gambia and an Austrian graphic designer
“Timestamp” – the daily lives of students and teachers in Ukraine under fire
“Valentina Against the Antennas” – a poetic portrait of a Sicilian girl fighting an oppressive system
Panorama Competition – Films from Israel and Around the World
A selection of six features and documentaries, three Israeli and three international, dealing with migration, human rights, memory and identity in contemporary reality.
“Out of Sight” – a look at detention in an isolated asylum-seeker center in the Alps
“Sediments” – a journey through family memory and national history
“Walam” – a drama about the boundaries of love and control in a girls’ boarding school
“Bye” – a poetic political drama about a return of Romeo and Juliet colliding with reality
“They Came to Take Me” – a documentary about three women arrested after placing flyers calling for the hostages’ release
“Leviathan” – a family’s fight to expose the truth about offshore gas rigs
International Screenings Outside the Competition
A selection of notable films from around the world:
“A Gray Wolf Cub Will Come” – a personal journey on the eve of the invasion of Ukraine
“Beethoven’s Ninth” – a 200-year-old work viewed in the context of global conflicts
“Blame” – a documentary thriller about scientists persecuted at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic
“My Daughter’s Daughter” – a Taiwanese drama about motherhood, memory and loss
“Food, Inc. 2” – a sequel to the hard-hitting investigation of the food industry
“Doctors Under Fire” – a documentary about a healthcare system operating during wartime
“Rising and Blooming” – a look at women entrepreneurs from Peru, Senegal and Sri Lanka
“Great Expectations” – a biographical drama about Enrico Berlinguer
“The Helsinki Effect” – a historical look at the 1975 conference and its influence
“Witness to Murder” – an Iranian drama about a struggle for justice
“There Is Another Way” – an Israeli-Palestinian film about a journey toward reconciliation
“Waves of Hope” – about the days of radio broadcasting in Prague in 1968
The Israeli Program
Several of Israel’s notable documentary films will be presented:
“Vijni (Where), My Friend” – revisiting the Yemenite Children Affair through a family story
“One Street in Silwan” – a sensitive record of daily life in a complex Jerusalem neighborhood
“Women Warriors” – testimonies from female soldiers who served in Gaza and are coping with post-traumatic stress
“Bil’in My Love” – marking 20 years of protest in Bil’in
“5 Broken Cameras” – the Academy Award nominee will screen as part of the tribute
“A Fourth Side to the Coin,” “Noise,” “Think Popcorn” – a tribute to Dan Geva’s trilogy
Special Events: The First Solidarity Conference
The first Solidarity Conference for Cinema and Human Rights will take place on December 11 and address the role of cinema, media and culture during wartime. Participants will include leading figures from law, journalism, culture, civil rights and academia, among them Hanan Melcer, Dina Zilber, Ayman Odeh, Zehava Galon, Yaron London, Rina Matzliah, Orly Noy, Lior Elephant, Uri Barbash, Tom Shoval, Ibtisam Mara’ana and many others.
Dates and other details:
December 4-13, 2025, Tel Aviv Cinematheque
Information and tickets: here
